Formerly Known As The French Monkey House...

January 14, 2005

The Day the Music Died

The morning was like so many others that had preceded it.I drove home from work listening to the AM drive show on WHFS.Everything seemed normal as the “Sports Junkies” chatted up a variety of topics.Often, (as was the case that morning) I would arrive home laughing hysterically at whatever it is that they were talking about.I continue listening on the radio in my room and, as they rattle off the previous evening’s sports scores or discuss the latest rumours from Hollywood, I drift off to sleep.

Just after noon on Wednesday, I was jolted out of my slumber—not by the sounds of alt-rock from the 90’s but, by the sounds of an incredibly loud mariachi band.My radio does not have a digital tuner; it uses the old skool dial, and on occasion it will drift off of a station.Assuming this was the case, in my half-awoken state; I stumbled over and turned the radio off.

Later, when I was fully awake, I switched the radio back on.As if they had been lying in wait, I was once again pounced upon by the very loud mariachi band.Unlike when the stations drift normally, the mariachi seemed to be coming in crystal clear… almost crystalier than the targeted station.I tuned down a bit: the country station—WMZQ.I tuned in the opposite direction: the pop music—Hot99.5.Back and forth I bounced, but whenever I passed where WHFS should have been, I got annoyingly loud mariachi.Frustrated, I finally concluded that the Mexicans across the street must be operating a pirate radio station out of their garage… à la Pump Up the Volume.

In the interest of national security, I was determined to report the violators to the FCC.After all, freedom to rock is one of the most sacred of amendments to our nation’s constitution.With my mission to locate the FCC’s website, I hurried down to my computer and clicked open my browser.It was then, that I was smacked in the puss by a headline that leapt from the screen as my favourite news site opened to view.“Local Rock Station Switches Formats”

Yes, dear friends… WHFS is no more.In its place, the Washington area now has “El Zol.”Don’t be alarmed, El Zol is the new name of the station, not an evil mastermind from The Tick; nor is it a masked professional wrestler.It is always a party at the station whose tag line is: Siempre de Fiesta.Apparently the band playing at that eternal party is chockfull of horns and guys with big guitars and bigger hats.

WHFS was the station I listened to when I was in intermediate and high school.It was a new wave station that let its deejays choose their own playlists.Those deejays were like family to me: the Weasel, Damien, Neci, Kathryn Lauren, Zoltar (the Brother from Another Planet), and even the new kid Tony “Aq” Aquaviva.Over time, ownership of the station changed hands and as the years went by, some of my friends went away—some to other competing stations, but sadly, some are gone forever.

Grunge ushered in the mainstreaming of “modern rock” and (the now corporate controlled) WHFS put the new hits on their scientifically researched and engineered, ten to twenty song permanent playlists.I grew tired of the schlock they were churning out and in the mid 90’s, I stopped listening to ‘HFS.I starting making my own “playlists” in the form of mix tapes and I even had my own radio show.It was at a cable access radio station and it was called The French Monkey House.Nobody listened, but I played what I wanted and said what I wanted—just like my idols did when radio was cool.

Six months ago, I started listening to WHFS again.My co-workers were gaga over the morning show and after a few listens, I was hooked.I don’t know if we will, ever again, get our “Sports Junkies” fix, but I can tell you that “drive time” mariachi ain’t cutting it.I think it is high time that I reconnect my old hard drive, dust off my MP3 player and pump out a little Radio Free Mount Vernon.Unfortunately, unless you are in my car, you won’t get to hear it… unless you have a very, very big antenna built into your sombrero.

Comments

It's interesting that despite how terrible WHFS has been in the past ten years, people somehow now mourne its loss. The fact that their ratings were in the basement, the HFStival was nothing more than a ecstacy-drenched teenage wasteland, the jocks were completely devoid of talent (including your beloved Junkies, though they could be funny,) or the fact that the station played ABSOLUTELY NO GOOD MUSIC somehow evokes pity in the attention-deficit generation. What's even more peculiar is that most folks never even knew it when it was good. With their heroes being Slipknot, Rage Against the Machine and Jet, they probably never will. Talent and good taste is frowned upon and ignored in favor of hype and ambivalence. The station died ten years ago. Finally, they've pulled the plug.

I find it interesting how radio stations are so good at keeping the format switch secret so well. There were two major upheavals in Houston recently. One is exactly like yours. A rock station that had been on the air for 34 years suddenly became Mega 101, Latino & Proud. The other switch was Houston's only full time classical radio station. I think it is smooth jazz now, whatever that is. I think the worst part of it is the major shock that people receive when the switch first happens. The annoyance, and then the doubt, then the panic and then the shock.

I'm curious, I was sitting here tonight and listening to The System on XM and I hear this Subterranean show is hosted by Zoltar: The Brother from another planet. This is something from the wayback machine for me. I'm from Chicago and listened to Zoltar on Q101 when he used to host Industrial Nation back in 1996 then it turned into Industrial Zone in 97 I think. When did he work on this WHFS, because I've been looking at a few sites and some led me to believe he was there for a time frame that would conflict with his presence here. And being that he occasionally would guest spin at a local club and two my knowledge he isn't Jesus or a quantum particle, being in two places at the same time would have been quite the feat--even from a brother from space.

Anyway, I'll have to tune in tomorrow and catch the show to get a little techno-industrial nostalgia.

Zoltar's era of Industrial Nation and Industrial Zone were the best, most progressive, origional programing on any broadcast station. No one was playing Ministry, Skinny Puppy, F242, Haujobb, Wumpscutt, GG Allen etc... Thank God I taped those shows. Who knew we could P2P back then LOL.

I believe he was at Q101 from 1993 to 1999 about 6 months before Mancow arrived. His shift sucked ass for all those years, 4 hours on Sat. then they moved him to about 2 hours on Sunday evening toward the end. It must have been crap for him.

I'm supprised that there are so few referances to him on google. There's got to be more than a half dozen people that remember him, where ever he was.

But you are right Zoltar's leaving was in fact the day that TRUE alternative music died. Any city that lost his ear for new music lost out. Zoltar was the SHIT! And Zolatr if you ever read this. Peace my brother. :)

I have about 24 hours worth of Zoltar recorded, on all things, BetaMax tape. Zoltar's show was on WHFS on Saturday nights, from something like 11pm until 2am. I use to record his program while I was spinning videos at a local club. I note that on a complilation tape I created years ago, 1994 was the date. So it would seem that Zoltar was on the air from 1991 to about 1993-94. Still listen to his sets today as the music is still fabulous. Must be age and nostalgia, but today's music is rather boring. No wonder radio is in the pits. I also note that 'HFS went down the tubes about the same time when the station, then privately owned, was sold to Infinity. During the past ten years, I have heard some great music, but not on radio. Not to beat a dead horse, but, as most people know, 'HFS was on the cutting edge, with Pet Shop Boys, Front 242, KFDM, Sisters of Mercy, Depeche Mode, Die Krupps, Culture Club, Cure, Nitzer Ebb, Duran Duran, Eurogliders, Eurythmics, INXS, Jam & Spoon, Juno Reactor, New Order, Nine Inch Nails, and so many more. One could not hear this music anywhere else.

Hey, Maggie here from Chicago just trying to add what I know of Zoltar in here..
From what I recall, the first time I started hearing Zoltar-"The Brotha' From Another Planet", he was doing a regular spot on Chicago's own Loyola University station, then known as Energy 88.7 FM. This was around 1990, or so. I was about about 11 years old, and just getting to discover the great sounds we know as techno, new-wave, and industrial.. I really dug this music, and even got the chance to call him up and talk to him at the station, with one of the first questions out of my mouth being, "are you black?"(i was young and ignorant and found it awesome that a black guy in Chicago had an industrial radio show) Then, after several years, I started hearing him have a spot on Chicago's Q101 fm-which at the time, had switched to a mainly grunge-dominated format. What a breath of fresh air, and a relief when I started to listen to Industrial Zone. No-one in this city would play industrial music on the radio, except for Zoltar..eventually even 88.7 let loose of it's electronic roots, and expanded to a more culturally diverse format, which is fine. Then, around 1997 or '98, Zoltar and Industrial Zone was nowhere to be heard on the dial, leaving me sad again. Eventually I realized that Q101 sucked, and would change their format for the worse every few years, going with whatever seemed to be playing on MTV at the time. How typically pathetic. Zoltar's industrial playground for the ears was replaced with a more techno-ish program a year or two later, called Sonic Boom, which emerged in the midst of the bloating rave scene. Where is Zoltar now? What city is he in now? I miss him and wonder if he's doing any projects that can be accessed regardless of location.
Sorry for the long paper here, I appreciate the chance to add though... Peace

I loved zoltar and subterannean...I listened to him every sun morning from 12 to 2 am on WHFS. He was definitely the last thread of credibility that the station cut when the format change happened. I don't know when he started spinning on HFS but I started listening to him in early 2004 I think. I was so psyched when I found a trance/progressive DJ on FM radio. I'm really suprised to hear that he was on HFS back in the early 90s. It seemed towards the end of his stay at HFS there were a lot of reruns being played of Subterrannean which I thought was kind of strange. I know his show was being played on XM as well as some station in Omaha called "The River." I hope he's still being played on XM cuz I'd definitely
like to hear him again. His sets were so original, mixing so many different types of electronic music together. I'm trying a trial subscription to XM online now so I can see if he's still on. Oh and I have recorded some of his shows on tape and on my computer.

Wow...I was just searching for some information on Zoltar because I lost my only tape of one of his Industrial Zone shows.

Great reading some of these entries about his shows on Q101, which is all I remember.

I had a job back in the day where I needed to be there at 5am. It was perfect because I beleive his last industrial show ran from like 2am to 5am during the week. I'd get up at 4am and jam the industrial beats while getting ready and all the way to work.

Wow...those were the days. Anyone here go to the dome room back in the early to mid 90's???

I used to work in a SubWay near Milwaukee on Saturday nights. I used to close, which afforded me the opportunity to tune into Zoltar while I worked. I think at that time (summer of '94 or '95) the show was called "Alternative Beat"?

He was the guy who got me interested in industrial music and I began DJ'ing an Industrial music show in Whitewater, WI (WSUW).

I thought he had disappeared until I got a subscription to XM. Since I dig trance as well, it works out nicely, but I wish they'd let him DJ an industrial music show somewhere, for old time's sake.

Hey Zoltar fans, I live in Chicago
and breathed, ate and bled Zoltar
every Sat. night on Q101 and the
Dome Room was my 2nd home away
from home. Zoltar did also DJ @ The
Gothem Club. I'd like to ask if
anybody out there knows where he is
and can be contacted? Reason being
a mutal friend of his/mine would
like to make contact with him.
His friend basically recorded
almost all of his shows on Sony
mini discs, beta/VHS tapes and we
listen to them often and Zoltar was
definetly the SHIT! I do agree with
the previous comment about how few
comments there are on the web about
his DJ era. Also I just wanted to
mention another unsung Industrial
DJ Mr. DJ Jeff Moyer who was the
main man @ The Dome Room during
that era, he is still out there
doing his thing at Exit @ Neo's
in Chicago, you can hit him up on
myspace. Well be well all,Thanks,
Lou

I listened to Zoltar all through 1992-1994 while at school in DC. We had to rig up an eyesore of an antenna in the dorms to get it all the way from Annapolis (it was 99.1 WHFS then), but it was soooo worth it! He would do remotes from Margarita Maggies in Colombia, MD, and set the town afire with his music. I can't wait to hear him now on XM channel 82, Thursdays and Sundays I think. He's the whole reason I keep XM! The System is also available through Worldspace Sat radio.

I also use to listen to Zoltar back in the 90's. I went to the Exit this past Saturday and realized how bogus the scene has become. (They have a Golden Tee now.) Anyways it got me thinking about Zoltar. I just found him on myspace and I'm very excited. I might even get a subscription to XM. Here's the link: http://www.myspace.com/xmzoltar